By Josh Baugh :
February 4, 2013
: Updated: February 5, 2013 1:12am

Mayor Julián Castro is expected to tell members of the House Judiciary Committee today at a congressional hearing on immigration that the United States must enact a multipronged approach to fix a “badly broken” immigration system.

Castro's testimony in Washington, D.C., before the committee of 17 Democrats and 23 Republicans — including Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, and four other Texas representatives — is expected to draw attention to the issue.

The grandson of a Mexican immigrant, Castro will mention his own history, but he also will testify about Benita Veliz, a Dream Act advocate and former valedictorian of Thomas Jefferson High School, as he discusses contemporary immigration issues.

On Monday, Castro applauded the recent unveiling by a bipartisan group of senators of a comprehensive immigration reform proposal. The time to reform immigration policy is now, he said.

Castro is expected to call on Congress to enact a broad approach to reform immigration. According to his prepared remarks, Castro will testify that the nation “must do at least three things: further strengthen border security, streamline the legal immigration process so that law-abiding companies can get the workers they need in this 21st century global economy, and create a path to citizenship to bring the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country out of the shadows and into the full light of the American Dream.”

Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a prepared statement that Congress is poised this year to “engage in a momentous debate on immigration.” He noted that reform is a massive undertaking and underscored the need to examine each piece in detail.

“We all agree that our nation's immigration system is in desperate need of repair and it is not working as efficiently and fairly as it should be,” he said. “But before we rush to judgment, we need to carefully look at the current laws on the books to see what is and isn't working.”

Castro will tell the committee that the country' immigration system is broken.

“(It's) more than a political issue. It's who we are,” Castro will say. “From Plymouth Rock to Ellis Island and Galveston, Texas, to the sandy shores of Florida and the rocky coasts of California, immigrants have made ours the greatest country in the world.”

He'll also tell the committee that Veliz is the epitome of an American success story.

“But under current immigration law, she is in limbo,” he'll say. “America is her home in every sense of the word, except under this broken immigration system.”

Castro will urge the committee — and the full Congress — to get to work and finally reform national immigration policy.